Kanha National Park, National park in Madhya Pradesh, India
Kanha National Park is a protected wildlife reserve in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh covering roughly 940 square kilometers. The reserve consists of grasslands, sal forests, and dense bamboo thickets that serve as habitat for tigers, leopards, and several species of deer.
The Indian government created the reserve in 1955 to protect wildlife from hunting and habitat destruction. Over the following decades the area was expanded several times and now serves as a model for successful conservation programs targeting threatened species.
The reserve is thought to have influenced Rudyard Kipling when he wrote some of his best-known tales set in the Indian jungle. Travelers today still encounter the forest types and open meadows that appeared in those narratives.
Visitors join guided jeep safaris offered from October through June. Morning tours provide better chances to see native animals in their natural environment.
The reserve holds the largest population of hard ground barasingha deer, a species found nowhere else in such numbers. Intensive protection efforts raised their population from 66 animals to more than 800.
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